Word: morimura
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...Houston Museum of Fine Arts opened the first full survey in the U.S. of the history of Japanese photography. It's a superb show full of work that will mostly be new to Americans, proceeding from lustrous 19th century geisha portraits to the post-Modernist shenanigans of Yasumasa Morimura, who makes heavily stage-managed pictures of himself decked out as Western icons of both sexes--sort of the Japanese Cindy Sherman. Anne Wilkes Tucker, the Houston MFA's influential chief photo curator, says she decided to organize the show when she realized how little Americans knew about the field. "What...
...digital sleight of hand, few artists ply their trade more slyly than Yasumasa Morimura. Inserting his image into famous works, this Osaka-based master becomes the languorous courtesan (and her maid) in Manet's Olympia or--how could he resist?--the Mona Lisa. Combining photography, painting and computer manipulation, each piece is a wicked homage, turning art history into a gilded vanity mirror. In his new show at New York City's Luhring Augustine Gallery, the farce is lavish and precise, as Morimura continues his wry, gender-bending ways...
...Figure" exhibition down-stairs at the Museum of Fine Arts contains only one celebrity portrait, which is thankfully not by Mr. Ritts. Despite a somewhat flimsy and overly ambitious curatorial premise, "Face and Figure" includes several strong works on the body by Ritts' more talented contemporaries, including Yasumasa Morimura, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Lorna Simpson, Catherine Opie and Gilbert and George. At their best, these artists more successfully use the face and body as a site of contention on which to explore questions of gender, race, sexuality and power...
Despite these strong works, as well as Morimura's spectacular appropriation of Rembrandt's "Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp," the show is plagued by the inclusion of poor work by Boston area artists. Although the curators nobly attempted to showcase local talent, most of their selections are weak in comparison with pieces by better known artists. Carol Cohen's "Greek Revival," plates of glass etched with a body and set in a mauve and teal neo-classical base, pales in contrast with Nancy Spero's deft exploration of female power and representation in the ancient era. More disappointing, however...
...works of Yasumasa Morimura, Nan Goldin (who is also included in this year's Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney), and Hunter Reynolds are also particularly engaging...